I was talking to someone yesterday that has been doing Medical Coding for almost 20 years and she said the last that she heard the ICD-10 may not go into effect any time soon. She said that it was suppose to go into effect the 1st of this year (2013) and then she 2014 and then she has heard it may be on hold for even longer. So I purchased an ICD-9 used from AMAZON last week and I so glad that I did. When I was looking for the ICD-9 2012 I saw that there was and ICD-9 2013. So I wonder if we will be using the ICD-10 any time in the near furture. I just wanted to post an update from someone who has been doing this for awhile.
She also told me that most dr.'s offices and hospitals actually have a computer program that helps to do alot of this stuff. She says it is really nice because you don't have to really look through the books for the codes. She says that once we actually get to using what we learn that it will come to us and she also told me that the Certification Test is not to hard and that we should contact the place where we will test to see exactly what we can bring with us. She was allowed to use a Medical Dictionary which says really helped her out when she came across something that she got a mental block with was able to look it up it helped her to get her answer. So make sure before taking the Certification Test you find out if they will let you bring a Medical Dictionary and even if they say not she says to take one any way just in case you get there and the person in charge of the actual testing says that you can use one.
Just some updates I wanted to share with everyone.
Alana